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State of Conservation of World Heritage Forests report launched

Thursday, 10 November 2011
at 00:00

The World Heritage Centre is pleased to announce the publication of the World Heritage Paper #30: “Adapting to Change – The State of Conservation of World Heritage Forests in 2011” as a contribution to the 2011 United Nations International Year of Forests.

There are 104 World Heritage sites that have been recognized at least in part for their forest values. These range from the 20 hectare Vallée de Mai Nature Reserve in Seychelles, renowned for its unusual coco de mer palm, which grows the largest seed in the plant kingdom, to the vast Central Amazon Conservation Complex, which, at 5,232,018 hectares, is larger than many European countries.

The report reviews indicators specifically developed and selected to give the reader an overall impression on how the World Heritage Convention is contributing to the conservation and monitoring of the best forest protected areas in the world. The report also assembles an insightful collection of articles from experts in various fields, focusing on different aspects of climate change adaptation for protected forests. The intention is to help advance the debate over how the World Heritage Convention can best be leveraged to accelerate the identification and application of management strategies designed to help World Heritage forest sites adapt to climate change impacts.

The report can be accessed here. For more information on the World Heritage Forest programme, click here.